Friday, August 26, 2011

You know that saying- "Necessity is the Mother Of Invention"? Well that is totally the case here. Some might think that a wine bottle holder isn't a necessity but I beg to differ. I'm sort of a hoarder of wine- if I see it on clearance at the grocery store I'll grab a few bottles. It's a great way to try new wine and have some on hand for when company comes over.

In our old house we had a huge pantry and my wine hoarding wasn't an issue. In our new house we don't have a pantry, so my wine has been collecting underneath one of the cabinets.

Hard to reach and difficult to find what I'm looking for.

So, enter this:

I saw this uber modern wine holder online at Umbra for $150 + shipping. Ouch. It's made of metal and pretty awesome, so I guess I understand the high price. Since buying is not an option I thought about how I could DIY this baby instead.

Hmmm, PVC pipe as a substitute? Yes!

And since I've been raving about my Dremel Tool lately this is a good tie in. I bought lengths at the hardware store. It was a little over $1 a foot. You can have them cut it down to the length you need so you won't have to buy a big giant long pipe. I used 4" and 1.5" pipe.

I used the plastic cutting bit of my Dremel to cut the pipe down further to 6" lengths, 6 of each size. You can use a mitre saw or hack saw to cut the pipe if you don't have a Dremel. Be sure to wear eye glasses and a mask- pipe dust gets everywhere!

Once I had all my pieces cut I used a sander so smooth out the edges. If you use a different kind of saw you might be able to skip this step, my edges were not completely even. Then clean all your pipes to get any dust or residue off.

After that I arranged my pipes in the pattern I wanted, looking at the original picture as a guide.

My main issue next was how to attach the pipes. There's plenty of ideas of how to attach them end to end, but side to side was a different story. I decided to use a mixture of screws and epoxy glue made for plastic. (*Note: I have recently learned that Pluming Adhesive would be best for this!) I used #8- 32 x 3/4" machine screws. We don't have a real hardware store in our town so this is the best Walmart had. They are long enough to fit through the 4" tubes where they connected and not to long on the ends where the 4" and 2" tubes connect.

I marked the edges that needed screws then drilled 2 holes on either end 1" in from the ends.

This was the hardest and most time consuming part. Marking each edge then drilling took some time but was successful in the end. After is was all together I used Locktite Epoxy Glue made for plastic (again all Walmart had- E6000 or another brand would work fine) and poured it into the crevices. Because the screws are attaching hard edge to hard edge, the joints were a little wobbly. The glue helped keep them in place. Next time I might try rubber washers and see how that does instead.

I let the glue cure for 24 hours, then it was time to paint! I used a white Rustoleum spray paint to cover any of the original markings on the PVC pipe and to disguise the screws.

Finito! Fini!

Now I can display our wine and not have to dig around for it in a cabinet. I'm like, a real wine connoisseur now.

For the pipe, screws, glue, and paint this whole project cost me around $20. Not bad for a modern wine rack!

These look like a ton of fun to make! It turned out so well and I especially love the way they are arranged. I would love it if you would stop by and share at the crafty link party going on right now at Lines Across My Face. I hope to see you soon,Rachelhttp://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com/2011/08/cure-for-common-monday-6-craft-link.html

What a wonderful job. It would be so nice to see you at our link party Crafty lassie Tuesday at http://sewstylishboutique.blogspot.com/ Also, we are having a cool give a way and it is so easy to enter. Hope to see you there.Thanks Rose and Heather

This is beyond clever!!! I LOVE the idea! Great tutorial, too! I would LOVE it if you'd link up to my Friday link party: T.G.I.F. (Thank God I'm Finished!) at Rummage Living!For projects big and small! Really it's for my own benefit as I get to see all the awesome projects that are out there, haha!

Hope to see you there- great blog, by the way- I'm having such fun poking around on all your great tutorials!

What a nice idea, I'm luvin it. And it was a nice project with a great outcome for a lovely price. Even if you don't have open space it would work nice in a cabinet also. KUDOS to you. Job well done.Hugs,Ellen

I see this project is a few years old, but it's new to me and I love it. Thought I'd drop you a note to let you know I'm featuring it on www.DIYFunIdeas.com (a hub for only the really cool DIY ideas). Here's the direct link to the post: http://diyfunideas.com/diy-modern-pvc-wine-rack/